Joseph Stiglitz Quotes

The Euro was a terrible mistake, one that is very difficult to unmake.

Europe is one thing. The euro is something else.

Indeed, the creators of the euro envisioned it as an instrument to promote political union.

The euro is a vital issue for Germany. There is no other country that derives as much benefit from the common domestic market and the monetary union as Germany.

It seems like cloud cuckoo land... If anyone is suggesting that I would go to Parliament and suggest the abolition of the pound sterling — no! ... We have made it quite clear that we will not have a single currency imposed on us.

A national currency, with the Euro as a common currency - that wouldn't bother me.

The euro is going to continue to be the largest single trading block.

The 1992 crisis proved that the existing system was unstable. Not moving forward to the euro would have set up Europe for even more disruptive crises.

It's political glue inside Europe to keep it together - the euro is the best thing going for it since the creation of the common market.

If the euro fails, Europe fails.

The euro is... a failed currency, a wrong currency, a failed experiment.

Let's start with the euro. What on earth were we thinking? How could anyone with the faintest grasp of economics have believed it was anything other than sheer insanity to yoke together diverse national economies such as Greece, Ireland, Germany and Finland under a single exchange rate and a single interest rate?

I think there are going to be more countries joining the euro.

We have no intention of leaving the euro. In no way will we experiment with the future of our country.

Some countries that are close to Europe that already hold Deutschemarks, clearly would automatically hold euros, those are countries in Eastern Europe mainly, a few countries in Africa.

After choosing monetary union, further political union and workable governance in Europe was always going to be necessary.

We will do whatever we could do to keep Greece inside the euro and inside Europe.

Europe unified its monetary policy through the euro before it unified politically, therefore sustaining member countries' abilities to pursue the kind of independent fiscal policies that can strain a joint currency.

Is Europe going to be breaking? I don't think so. I think the euro will stay. I think at the end of the day Europeans will find the solutions in order to hold Europe together.

At the time of the formation of the euro, I would say most American economists said that's not a good idea; that's not a currency area that makes sense. And the answer from Europe was, 'How is Missouri and Mississippi a currency area?' But the flaw in that was not recognizing the importance of mobility.

I can understand countries don't want to join the euro, but they cannot impede the consolidation and strengthening of the eurozone.

A country outside the euro zone cannot have a veto over countries in the euro zone.

The most important thing is to defend the euro.

The strongest institution in the hands of the European Union is the euro.

I want the whole of Europe to have one currency; it will make trading much easier.